The Silence of War
by Jaegothis
Summary: After a monster invades his home, Kaestra flees to seek help from a ragtag guild and a thieving Minun. He flinches away from battle, but hates himself at the same time for not being strong enough to fight. Faced with an impossible choice, he must decide whether he wants to seek power and shape the world in a way it never should be, or live never knowing what he could have done.
1. Enemy

A short time from dawn, a Leafeon stumbles on the outskirts of a large town. His head turns from side to side, probing every shadow. His eyelids droop, but the shrill cry of a Hoothoot jerks him back to alertness. A bolt of fear runs through his body. He scans the dense forest growing around the isolated town. All of the trees are dying. Their leaves are a dull yellow and splotched orange. Although he has only been gone for a day, he misses his own trees with their vibrant reds and golden canopy.

The sun begins to touch the very bottom edge of the sky. He takes a deep breath, feeling the crisp autumn air flow through his short fur. He exhales a cloud of frost.

He prefers his own part of the forest. Untouched by many civilized pokemon, it blooms into life every spring, glowing with life. He loves his home, with the sun reflected in every purple flower and blade of emerald grass. He loves hearing the birds sing him to sleep every night.

Seeing nothing, he shivers and fluffs his short fur out. He looks back at the town's formidable clay wall, feeling lost and afraid. "Hello?" he calls, putting his front paws up on the cool surface. "Let me in! I'm cold out here!"

No response. The Leafeon's ears flick around, aware of any small sound. "Hello!" he calls again, louder. "Hey! I saw that pokemon you were asking for!" He beats his paws against the wall futilely. When there is still no response, he droops. He knows that there is only one way in, and it is barred at night. Still, he goes on over to the two heavy wooden doors and knocks on them as well.

"Get out of here!" A white face appears over the wall, illuminated in in the torch that the creature carries. It waves the fire down at him. "How long have you been traveling? That monster's sure to be gone by now, wherever you saw it! Get lost!"

"But-" The Leafeon takes a step back from the angry pokemon, confused. "I saw it! You don't understand! You're not going to go after it? It was by my home! It's going to hurt the pokemon in my area!"

"I don't care," the guard growls, shaking his head firmly. "I have a job to do. Keep your racket down. Some pokemon are trying to sleep here." He bares his teeth and disappears.

The Leafeon tosses his head, feeling angry and perplexed. "Fine! I don't need you." He spits on the ground, turning and striding back into the forest, tramping noisily on the falling leaves. _That strange pokemon is going to ruin everything in my forest._ A chill runs down his back. Shadows dance in the corners of his eyes. His heart rate increases slightly. "Hello?" he calls, his words returning emptily. He wishes he had never left for this town.

 _The townspeople came to his area of the forest a week ago, trampling all of the already dying flowers under their careless feet. He had been angry at them, especially when they demanded angrily if he had seen a strange pokemon come this way. He hated to pick a fight, though. They were from a town a good three miles away. He didn't want to turn them all out after coming such a distance. He had shaken his head and promised to tell them if he did see anything._

 _A day after they left, a sense of being watched came over him. He shook it off, marking it as paranoia. He had taken a walk to clear his head when he came upon a pokemon feasting upon a dead Pokemon. It looked up and fixed him with its sharp red eyes while gore dripped off its worn fangs. Startled, he had run. His legs screamed and his breath burned in his throat, but he kept running, imagining the hunter tearing him apart as easily as that Pidgeotto._

 _At last he had stopped, swaying, as he scanned the forest around him. Too terrified to go back to his home, he buried himself in a pile of fallen leaves and trembled until sleep claimed him._

The Leafeon shivers as he jumps back into the present, the image of the dead Pigeotto and those burning red eyes branded into his mind. The sky steadily brightens. Unsure of what to do, he simply stands in the middle of the silent forest, listening to his own heartbeat. The quiet is starting to unnerve him. _Where did all of the pokemon here go?_

"Jumpy?"

The odd stillness is slashed apart by the Leafeon's screams.

"That's the best reaction I've ever gotten. Can you do it again?"

The Leafeon fights to calm his racing heart as he realizes that the voice is bright and childish. Spinning around in circles to try and locate the speaker, he curses and takes a deep breath. "Who are you?" he shouts.

The voice laughs. "Aww, you're kind of cute. I'm Tovi. Nice to meet you… although you might not say the same for me." She laughs again. The carpet of dead leaves a few feet in front of him rustle, and she pokes her head out. She looks a bit like a miniature Pikachu, but he hasn't seen anything like her before. "I love it when the leaves fall. Don't you?" She flicks a few at him. They fall short and fall slowly to the ground. The Leafeon feels his spirits sink for some reason just watching it.

"No," he says eventually. He hates seeing the plants die. "Who _are_ you?" he repeats. "Don't say Tovi. I mean… do you know who is scaring the pokemon near my home?" She doesn't look like much- her head, at least. It's a long shot, but he doesn't know what else to do.

'Rawr. Look at me. I'm a big scary monster." Tovi climbs out of the leaf pile and wiggles her paws at the Leafeon. Now that he can see all of her, he realizes that she doesn't even come up to his shoulder. She looks even more like a mini-Pikachu, except for the markings on her ears and face. "I've never been any more than mile from this town and I've never terrorized any pokemon for sure."

He wonders what jumping random pokemon at dawn, in an empty forest counts as. He shakes the thought from his head. "Alright, fine," he says. "Do you live in the town?" He doubts it, looking at her dirt smeared exterior. She smells a bit too.

"Pfft. _Please_." Tovi folds her paws over her chest. "If I lived in there, don't'cha think I would be sleeping in there right now? And be richer?"

"So instead you get up early waiting to scare pokemon going their way?" the Leafeon mutters under his breath. "What do you mean, richer?"

Tovi snorts. "Why do you think they have all that security? I've been living here all my life. They put that wall up _real_ fast about a week ago. They seemed really scared about something. Probably robbers or something." She laughs and rubs her paws together.

 _Something much worse than robbers_. They put up the wall about the same time that they came asking him about the strange pokemon. "Yeah, probably," he says lamely. "What are you? I've never seen anything like you before.

"Really," Tovi says, raising an eye-ridge. "I'm a Minun." She offers no other explanation. "At least you didn't think I was a mutant Pikachu or something. What are you?" She runs a paw down his flank and tugs experimentally on one of the leaves on his leg. "Does this hurt?"

"Ow! Yes!" He pulls away, annoyed. "I'm a Leafeon. My parents were Leafeon. There's an evolution rock where I live. We're quite common." As soon as he says it, he regrets the lofty note in his voice, thinking that Minun may be common in this area but not his. "I just want to go home," he whispers, although his heart swells in fear of that strange pokemon.

"Nope." Tovi yanks on his tail as he turns to go, eliciting a pained squeak. "You'll help me get in that town, Leafeon! In return, you get treasure! Lots of it!"

"Get off me!" he snaps, lightly kicking her off with a back paw. "I don't need treasure! I just want to get the pokemon scaring my forest locked up so I can live peacefully!"

A gleam shines in Tovi's dark eye. "Ohh," she says, and smiles triumphantly. The Leafeon leans away, unnerved by the sudden change. "You know, there's this powerful guild thing outside of the forest that will do anything for the right sum of money. Or… valuable items." She winks at him.

He wrinkles his nose, even as he thinks about how well these pokemon could be used against the 'monster'. _Without knowing that it's gone, I'll never live peacefully. I'll always be afraid._ "Alright," he agrees reluctantly. "But after that we go our separate ways. My forest will be cleared and you'll be rich, and we can both be happy."

Tovi nods and holds out a paw. "It's a deal," she says, and they shake on it solemnly. She smiles. "So what's your name, partner?"

"Kaestra," he responds. He looks at the sun filtering through the leaves and remembers his favorite spot to take a nap, nestled perfectly in a ray of warmth. He nudges the foliage at his feet away and sees nothing but dirt. Wishing for a single flower, he pushes the leaves back. "What's your great plan then?"

"Plan?" Tovi says, smirking. "What's a _plan_?"

"Oh dear," Kaestra says, sighing… again.

* * *

Rain had fallen overnight. However, by the time the sun in high in the sky, not a single cloud is in sight. Kaestra groans as he sees Tovi reemerge into the forest, covered head to toe in dark mud and carrying two heavy pawfuls of the sticky substance. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead," she says as he raises his head, lobbing a clod directly at his chest. It hits hard and he shouts as the cold mud drips off of his chest fur, spitting out a bit that splattered into his mouth. "Done sleeping the day away?"

Kaestra shoots a glare at the Minun, his mind rolling over various threats. _I'd hate to get into a fight, but this is another issue completely._ "I haven't slept all night," he says, just as her other handful strikes home on his left flank. Anger surges in his body. Tovi giggles and puts a paw up to her mouth. "Oops," she says. "Don't look so down. You're going to distract the guard while I run in and grab us some loot. Got it? Great." She snags an old, worn cloth bag hanging from a low tree branch and smears the remains of her mud over the dull green cloth.

The thought being able to free him of all this trouble bolsters Kaestra. "Fine, fine," he says, rising wearily to his feet. "Do you have anything to eat? I'm famished."

Tovi snorts scornfully. "What? Food? Good luck. Maybe you'll find some apples ahead." She turns and scampers away, in the direction of the town. Before she is completely out of sight though, she calls over her shoulder "Glory! Gold! How can you even think of eating at a time like this?" She waves the bag over her head as a farewell.

Kaestra follows her, painfully aware of the mud hardening in his fur. _I shouldn't be doing this. Surely there's another way to get rid of the monster._ As he thinks it though, he knows it isn't possible. He has no money or valuable items. Although he hates the idea of stealing from potentially honest pokemon, he has no other choice. Gritting his teeth, he continues onwards. A cold wind ruffles his fur. He shivers. Even worse, he doesn't see any potential breakfast.

The town is located in a clearing. The trees do not quite reach over the walls, so a few steps in between the walls and circle of forest is squishy with mud. As Kaestra approaches the heavy doors- still closed-, he frowns, because he cannot hear any voices, not even the playing of happy children. A Sandslash sits on the wall with their back against the arch of the doorway. Its eyes are closed, peacefully taking a nap in the autumn sun. Kaestra puts a paw on the doors and pushes. It remains firmly shut and presumably barred.

He catches a tiny bit of movement above him. Tovi balances on one of the tree branches near the wall, although the jump to make it over must be at least five feet, plus the fall to the ground if you miss. The branches that high up are fairly flimsy. Kaestra can see the branch swaying even under her minuscule weight. The guard on the wall shifts and cracks an eye open.

"Hey," he calls tentatively, wanting to keep the guard's attention on him. "Why are the gates shut? Can I… come in?"

The Sandslash jumps up as soon as he speaks, her head swiveling to find him. When it sees him, it visibly relaxes. "Sorry sir," she calls down, snapping her claws together. "No one can come in and no one can go out. It's for all of our safety. Go away." A few mere yards away, Tovi runs off her branch and makes a flying leap for the wall. Half her body _thumps_ against the wall loudly as she scrabbles for purchase on the damp, slippery wall. The Sandslash's ears follow the sound. "What was that?" she snaps. "Are you alone?"

"Of course I a-" Kaestra begins, desperate to keep her attention on him, but the guard sees the squirming black shape clinging to the wall.

"Stop!" she shouts, striding towards Tovi.

Kaestra stands, paralyzed with fear. The guard picks up the Minun by the ears roughly, even as she cries out in pain. She writhes helplessly in the stronger pokemon's grasp. Something deep inside the Leafeon awakens. " _Keep your paws off,"_ he snarls, digging his paws into the wet dirt. Feeling the power of nature all around him, he shouts, and when he does the guard collapses, dropping Tovi and weakly falling off the wall to drop into a heap beside him. He feels a burst of energy flow through him, strengthening his tired muscles.

Tovi stands up and rubs her ears tenderly. "Kaestra… what was that?" He can't tell if it's awe or fear or a mixture of both in her voice.

"I'm not sure," he rasps, his throat suddenly sore. _What was that? How did I do that?_

"I-I… I see the switch to open the gates. There are some stairs here. I'll be right there. It's really strange… there's almost nobody here." With a scared glance- _definitely fear_ \- she disappears behind the wall, her bag securely strapped to her back, leaving Kaestra to sit and think.

His mind is empty though. He is afraid, but of what he can't tell. Himself? Feeling the power still flow through his body, he shudders.

The door creaks open slowly. Steadying himself with a deep breath, he prepares to meet the town's challenges. Instead of seeing a group of ferocious fighters ready to rip him apart, all he sees in a hunched, old Umbreon sitting in the middle of the doors and Tovi next to him. "Greetings, brother," he says in a voice too strong for his frail body. "I am Zai'an, the overseer of this town. I wish you were not here, brother. Why have you come this way?"

Kaestra recognizes him. Zai'an one of the pokemon that came to his home. "Do you remember me?" he asks, but presses on without waiting for a response. "I live a few miles from here. You came to me a little while ago looking for a pokemon. I saw him. He was disrupting my home. There aren't any predators where I live."

"Do you have to worry about overpopulation, then?"

Kaestra shakes his head. "No, the forest is massive- enough space for everyone. But that's not the point. I saw the monster, and he was- he was killing and-" he shakes his head, frustrated that he cannot properly emphasize his point. Tovi remains silent, standing next to the Umbreon.

Zai'an's eyes narrow. "That _monster_ you're talking about is my son. But you're right. He's a menace. He wasn't always like that. He used to be a normal pokemon. He was ambitious. He had hopes and dreams. We were constantly being raided by another creature. We could do nothing to defend against it, because it struck swiftly and silently. A stranger came to our town and said he could help. My son wanted to rid our town of our enemy, so he went to the stranger. They never seemed to be apart. While he was with the stranger, he grew exponentially. He became stronger than he ever should have been.

"The next time the enemy struck, my son caught him. We don't know what happened to it. We presume he was… killed. Our town celebrated. But then he growled at us and said, 'He told me what you wanted. You're all cowards, the whole lot of you. Hiding behind someone bigger and stronger than you to let them do your dirty work.'"

"So-" Tovi swallows hard, her eyes fixed on the ground. Kaestra feels wretched. _These pokemon just wanted to live peacefully, like me. Something always has to go wrong, doesn't it?_ _Are there possibly two powerful pokemon out there, wanting nothing more than to cause pain? Why?_

"Think about that before you judge us," Zai'an says, his voice rising over Tovi's. "You're welcome to stay here for a night. We have nothing else to lose." He spits to the side, his muzzle curled in a sneer. "Don't expect a happy welcome, though." He nods at Tovi's bag. " _Nothing_ else to lose."

* * *

 **A huge thank you to the writers on the PMD: Writers United forum for the help with this.**


	2. Nuxaon

The sun shines brightly over the town of Nuxaon, but the large, walled town seems to be completely bare. From his post inside his hut, Kaestra the Leafeon stares glumly out of the open doorway, watching falling leaves frisk and spin in the wind. The breeze rustles the forest that surrounds the town, making an endless dull roar of trees swaying. The lack of silence is what bothers Kaestra most. The wind's cold fingers tug insistently at the leaves struggling to stay on their branches. It promises a cold and early winter.

"I wish I lived someplace where it's warm all year round," his companion, Tovi, says, hugging herself tightly. Kaestra feels a pang of pity for the short-furred Minun. She is sitting in a corner, her legs drawn up to her chest, as far away from the doorless opening as she can.

"Here," Kaestra says, getting up from their single straw pallet. The bed is warm where he sat on it. He waves a paw at it. "Sit over here. I have an idea." As the Minun uncurls herself, he walks around their simple, four-legged table. The wooden structure is cold to the touch. He puts his shoulder under the rough edge and heaves up, successfully lifting it onto its side. It wobbles for a few moments before coming to a rest in front of the doorway. Kaestra can instantly feel the amount of cold air blowing in lessen.

The Leafeon stands back to admire his work, proud. "I thought that would be harder," he admits out loud. He rolls his shoulders. Just accomplishing the one thing makes him feel better about his day.

"Good job," Tovi says from behind him, sounding slightly confused. "Are we trapped in here now?"

A wave of heat pulses through Kaestra's face. "I didn't think of that," he says. "I'm sure we can pull it back if we work together." He sits down next to Tovi, hoping he doesn't crowd her off the straw. "Tovi, yesterday, on the wall…" His thoughts keep coming back to the Sandslash guard.

Tovi frowns. She puts a paw to her throat, where the guard held her. "I've never seen anything like that before. I'm sure she's a strong warrior and has taken a lot of hits. But you just floored her." He sees her sneak a furtive look at him. "I haven't seen anything like it since… um… I should probably have told you..."

A ball of apprehension settles in Kaestra's stomach. "What?"

"I saw him." His confusion must have been written on his face because she elaborates. "I saw his son. They called him Janus. They hadn't built the wall yet, so I could watch from the forest. He came back one night, and even I could feel the anger building off of him. It's like Zai'an said. I ran before the fight started. I could sense it coming. I heard them, though. They all began screaming, but out of all of them I heard a mother crying for her child- it was horrible, and-"

Kaestra sits next to her, stunned. Part of him sits in shock, angry that she didn't tell him. The other part of him understands why she doesn't want to talk about it _. I wouldn't want to relive it either_. "I'm sorry," he says, though he's not sure what he's sorry about. He keeps his gaze fixated on his paws. "You don't have to keep talking about it. I understand." The words hang in the air, solemn.

Tovi looks at him, really looks at him. He can almost feel her mind working. "Thank you," she says, and he can tell that she means it. "But it feels good to talk about it. Almost like I can leave it in the past." She sniffles and quickly turns away, but not before Kaestra sees a glimmering tear trace down her face.

The silence immerses the hut, broken only by Tovi's occasional sniffles. Kaestra stares out their doorway, hating every second of it. Just to hear something, anything, he begins to speak, the words tumbling out of his mouth like they have a mind of their own. He closes his eyes as he tells her about the beauty of his forest, imagining every vivid detail. His feelings poured out like the river that runs by his home. He feels Tovi put a paw on his shoulder and opens his eyes again. He simply looks at her, and suddenly they both burst into fresh tears, holding each other close.

A rattle of metal wakes them from their stupor. Kaestra disentangles from Tovi gently and blinks his crusty eyes, rubbing them with a paw. He squints outside, over the table, hoping his eyes aren't red.

"Aren't you two sweet?" A purple bipedal pokes her head in through the narrow opening, managing to stick her paws through to hang casually over the table. A thin chain binding her wrists catches the light. "Am I interrupting something?" Her yellow eyes crinkle upwards to match her rakish smile. She nods at Tovi, who is blinking herself to alertness. "I heard you talking. So you saw him too? Janus's growth was weird. Ever since that stranger came, he just kept growing. Apparently, his mind must've mutated too. It was fascinating."

Kaestra struggles not to flinch away from the Purrloin's sharp smile. "W-wait," he says, determined not to show how unnerved he is, "You were here? When it happened?" Beside him, Tovi shakes her head.

The other pokemon raises her bound paws to examine her wicked claws. "I see everything. I saw what you did yesterday to old Drii on the wall, too."

Kaestra jumps up. Tovi jumps up with him. "Kaestra!" she snaps. "She's just playing with you!"

"Oh, I know what happened there," the Purrloin says. "I'll tell you if you get me out of here." She rattles her bindings meaningfully. "For now, though, I gotta go. My guard'll be mad if I'm not back by… five minutes ago." She smirks at the duo and saunters off to a tall building a few blocks down. When Kaestra looks out, he can see a white pokemon glaring across the town at him. He's not sure, but he thinks it's the guard that turned him out yesterday.

"What's all that about?" Tovi asks, smoothing down her bristled fur. "She's bad news. I don't like her. We need to get out of here, Kae."

"I need to know," Kaestra murmurs, watching the Purrloin get shut in a cell at the bottom of the tall building. He looks up at the small circle of sky surrounded by trees, distressed at the lack of birds singing. "If she knows… I need to get her out, Tovi." He looks imploringly at her, praying that she understands. He's afraid that she'll walk out on him and that he'll never see her again. Fear bubbles in his stomach.

After a long, tense silence, she nods, folding her arms. "I'm with you, whatever you do," she says firmly.

"Really?" Kaestra beams at her, even though he's not sure what he did to deserve her loyalty.

"Of course," she says, her eyes gleaming with new excitement. "What's the plan, boss?"

He nods, thoughts racing through his mind. A plan begins to form. "I think we need to move the town," he says. "I mean the pokemon. There are too many bad memories here. But if we can er, remove Janus, they won't have to live in fear of him anymore."

Tovi nods at the looming clay wall surrounding the town. "They obviously thought he might come back, and soon." She points at the building the Purrloin is being held. "That's Nuxaon's… well; I guess you could call it a guild. I don't think there's many pokemon left in it. A lot of those who didn't die just left."

"Maybe we can get them to help," Kaestra says, swallowing hard to rid his mouth of the foul feeling that suddenly appeared. "They can't be too happy with Janus. We can't pay them, but it's their chance to take down Janus for all he's done."

Tovi nods. "Yeah. I don't agree with your moving the town. I think it could be a good reminder to never let your concerns be overshadowed by power." She waves him off as he opens his mouth. "I don't want to start an argument, okay? Just… please think about the effects, negative and positive. I'll go talk to the guild."

"Thanks," he says. He doesn't particularly want to talk to a bunch of unfamiliar pokemon. They probably wouldn't like a timid creature like him. He smiles at the Minun, pleased. "I guess I'll wander around and explore the town.

"Have fun, I guess," Tovi says with a shrug, scampering off.

Kaestra shakes his head and watches her cross the town square to the jail. The building has two floors. The first floor seems to be entirely for its inmates. Eight cells face outward, barred by horizontal wooden slats spaced evenly apart. Kaestra isn't sure how they open. A staircase winds up the side of the brick structure. Tovi climbs bravely up the rickety steps and throws the simple door at the top open. "Alright," she shouts into the room, her paws firmly on her hips. Her voice echoes through the lonely town. "Are you all done cowering in here and feeling sorry for yourselves? Are you ready for revenge and savage buttkickery?" Colorful heads poke out of their homes. The Purrloin, the only inmate as far as he can see, pokes her head out. He smiles.

Annoyance flashes in the purple pokemon's eyes. Kaestra smirks and decides not to explore the town after all. He strolls over to her cell, plastering a nonchalant (or so he hopes) smirk on his face. "Look who it is," he says, leaning against the slats of her cell. "Having fun?"

She gives him an unamused stare. "Trying to be funny, tough guy?" She puts her paws through the slat nearest him. They aren't bound. Kaestra yelps and jumps away, his heart thumping heavily in his chest. The Purrloin makes a weird kurr-kurr sound he assumes is a laugh. "So how are you going to bring down Janus? At full strength, the guild couldn't take him down. And then what?"

Kaestra silently curses the other pokemon for being so intuitive. Many of his former doubts come rushing back to him. "I know that. We're going to try and trap him. I think. We can't hit him straight on. Wait, why am I telling you this?"

She ignores the question. He grimaces. She unnerves him so much that often he feels his only defense is his words. _I need to keep my mouth shut around her._

"I suppose you're here to ask about your 'power'?" She wiggles her paws in the air to make air quotes. "I'm sure if you were an experienced pokemon full of battle skills, you might be able to use it to take Janus down. But now? Haha. Good luck!

"This all seems so trivial. Janus won't come back here to your forest. There are much bigger targets in the region. You have no reason to go after him. Unless…" The Purrloin gives him a sideways glance. "…this is a personal issue."

Kaestra silently curses her again. Of course. He hasn't realized it until now, but seeing Tovi so hurt by seeing Janus destroy the town has earned the enemy a dark hatred that sits in his chest. "I'm going to follow him," he promises. "For Tovi and this town, so they don't always have to be looking over their shoulder as they sit in the shadow of fear. They'll finally be free." As he says it, he feels certainty and hope bubble up within him. "I really mean it."

"Well," the Purrloin says, and a new gleam appears in her eye. It might be a glimmer of respect. "I'm sure it would be beneficial. It's hard to forget when the bloodstains on your house never wash out." She raps a paw against the slats of her cell. "I'll make you a deal. Get me out of here and I'll tell you what I know about what you did yesterday. Break me out, convince Zai to release me- doesn't matter. If you don't kill Janus, I'll probably be killed."

"What! Why?"

"Well, they need someone to blame," she says nonchalantly. "I'm Faris, by the way. It's been a nice talk, Kaestra." She retreats into the shadows of her cell.

Sensing the conversation has ended; Kaestra sits back and stares blankly at the sky. He doesn't remember telling her his name. Maybe Tovi said it. Speaking of Tovi, he doesn't hear her shouting anymore. Maybe her voice gave out.

She comes clattering down the wooden stairs as if on cue, a fierce grin on her face. "I did it Kae! They're going to help us! Well, most of them! They're with us! We can do this!" Her jubilant confidence is infectious. Kaestra finds himself beaming at her. "They're going to come with me back to HQ. I'll start planning. Are you coming?"

"I'll be there in a minute, okay?" Kaestra nudges her away. "Great job. I'll see you there."

She scampers away, and with her the quick burst of energy he had felt with her. He takes a breath of fresh air. It's tainted with something sour. He wishes for his home once again. His heart aches for his part of the forest. He had been happy there. He had been among pokemon he could call his family.

Kaestra looks around the town, reduced to nothing but a collection of horror and bad memories. The town's once-cheerful yellow Welcome to Nuxaon sign has toppled onto its back. The post office sits near the front, disheveled and crumbling. The bright red paint that once adorned the walls has faded to a rusty brown. Kaestra doubts they've gotten any mail lately.

Rocky gravestones split the ground randomly Nuxaon looks like it was once a full town, but now tombstones clump by the dozens, unadorned. Flowers rot by a few of them. Broken carts lie abandoned in the streets. One of them is missing a few wheels. Another is trampled. A third is splashed with blood. He averts his eyes.

 _This town is so broken…_

"Um… excuse me? Mister?" A small pink pokemon toddles up to him, wringing her paws together. Her huge blue eyes are dark with worry. "I heard that you were going to stop the evil pokemon?" Her high, thin voice trembles. She looks at the ground, as if afraid to meet his gaze.

"I… yeah. We're going to try." Looking at the tiny pokemon, Kaestra feels another surge of anger at Janus. "I mean, we're going to stop him from hurting another pokemon ever again. I promise." He forces reassurance into his tone, even though his heart skips. Did I just promise to kill him?

"That's good," the Cleffa says. "I remember the attack. He didn't even look gray anymore. Just red and black. It matched his eyes."

Kaestra shuffles away, disturbed at the level of corruption even the youngest pokemon are experiencing. He leaves the Cleffa standing in the street, talking to herself and staring into the distance with her watery blue eyes. He turns away to rejoin Tovi and the other pokemon.

When he arrives, the moment he steps into the hut Tovi accosts him with a barrage of words. "Welcome back, Kae! Are you ready for the greatest plan of all time? You better be! We've been thinking for ages!"

Smiling, Kaestra lets the Cleffa slip from his mind. "What?" he asks, prying the Minun off of his leg. "It hasn't even been an hour. What are you talking about? Where are the others?" The hut is empty save them two.

Tovi peers out the door. "They're coming back now. I sent them off for stuff."

Two unfamiliar feline shapes walk silently on the road. They're identical in every way, except for their eye color. One's is a brilliant golden; the other's is a deep emerald green. The one with the yellow eyes is holding paper that snaps and billows in the wind. The other one walks with her paws clasped together. Floating beside her at head level is a small, dark shape with a feather stuck in it. They seem to be unaffected by the breeze.

A round shape zips past the felines, spraying the duo with powdery dirt. It laughs and circles the two, coating their white coats in a fine layer of dirt. Curses follow the pokemon as it comes to a halt by Tovi, a smirk on its face. It drops Tovi's cloth bag on the ground. The fabric is stained slightly blue. "Is this Kae?" asks the bug to Tovi, waving his antennae at the Leafeon. "He doesn't look like much."

"Neither do you," Kaestra retorts, ruffled. "It's Kaestra." Something about the pokemon seems very familiar. He suspects that he's seen one of his kind before.

"Whatever," he says. "I'm Vee. I'm a Venipede in case you didn't know." Vee slides away, poking his head into every crevice in their hut.

The felines arrive. "Here," the yellow-eyed one says, thrusting her load of paper into Tovi's arms. The pokemon turns her attention to Vee. Her companion brushes the dust off herself.

"Thanks, Sylvia." Tovi puts the paper on the table (now properly upright). She snatches the feathery object the other one was carrying, which Kaestra now sees is a jar of ink. Tovi gestures at the duo, who are now towering over Vee. "That's Sylvia and Cynthia. They're twins." She waves exuberantly past Kaestra. "Everyone's here!"

Kaestra tries to turn, but the small crowd has effectively boxed him in so that he can't turn to see the newcomers. _Why are we all crowded in here? Aren't there bigger places we could be?_

"Thanks for coming, everyone!" Tovi stands on the table, crinkling the paper underfoot. She waves her paws and eventually, the talking calms down. Cynthia reluctantly sets Vee on the ground. "Kae and I really appreciate it. This is Vee, Sylvia, Cynthia, Ryvian, and Zai'an." Tovi points out each pokemon as she talks. Kaestra feels a twinge of surprise as she says Zai'an's name.

 _I wouldn't expect him to hunt his own son._

"Thanks for the introduction," a rough, gravelly voice calls. "It's not like I know everyone here or anything." A few snickers erupt. Kaestra assumes it must be Ryvian talking.

Tovi ignores the comment. "So, obviously we're not going to be able to tackle the kid head on. Any ideas? Sylvia and Cynthia, can you two communicate telepathically?"

The twins exchange glances. "Only with each other," Sylvia says. 'And we can manipulate matter, but nothing much else." She smirks at Vee, who sneers back.

Kaestra bites his lip. _If Janus is a dark-type like his father, they won't be much help for battling him._ He hopes his feelings don't show. He smiles brightly at both of them as best he can. _I'm glad Tovi is heading this up._

"No problem," Tovi says, clapping her paws together. She takes her quill, dips it in ink, and begins scrawling madly on the paper.

* * *

 **Please leave a review, and thank you for reading!**


	3. Janus

Silver light gleams through the forest, but the moon is dark and invisible. Zai'an leads a small group of pokemon with Kaestra at his side as they journey through the forest. The dark type's rings, usually a golden yellow, shine strongly silver. "On nights like this, when the darkness reigns," the Umbreon says in the quiet of the night, "We must be the beacons that light the way. We must be the light that shines when all other lights have burned out."

Kaestra isn't sure if the Umbreon is talking to himself or the rest of the group.

Vee pushes past them to weave through the forest. "I haven't seen many fresh tracks anywhere. I don't even feel anyone moving around." He looks at Kaestra. "You said we were near. How many pokemon live in your area?"

Taken aback for a second by the lack of sting in Vee's voice, Kaestra takes a moment to reply. "There weren't a lot of pokemon. Maybe a hundred within five acres. There should still be _something,_ right? I know there are nocturnal pokemon here. I usually fell asleep to the sound of Hoothoot."

"I don't sense anyone," Sylvia says. Her yellow eyes glow eerily in Zai'an's silver light. "Something seems very off about this place. I can't even sense you all very well."

Kaestra can feel the tension hanging in the air. He's horribly aware of his own heartbeat, fluttering urgently in his chest. _If she can't even sense us…_

"Never mind," Tovi says, her voice ringing out strongly. "We knew Janus was going to be a tough fight. If his energy radiates this strongly, we should be close." All eyes turn to the small Minun. "Stick to the plan, guys. We should be able to pull this off. We have the numbers."

"Or this could just be a fool's mission," Cynthia snaps. "If we can't use our psychic power near him then we're all going to die. Did you even _think_ about this, Tovi? Or are you too wrapped up in your delusions of grandeur to care about us?"

"Don't be stupid!" Tovi stamps her paw on the ground. "I care about the welfare of this group just as much as you!"

" _Are you sure?"_ Spit flies from Cynthia's mouth. She points an accusatory paw at Tovi. "You haven't been raised with us! You hardly know us! I'm not going with you on a mere _chance!_ Forget it! If the rest of you are smart, you'll leave too! I don't know how you got roped into this!"

The group erupts into a harsh argument. Kaestra turns in circles, watching the party being torn apart. "Stop!" he cries, but nothing can be heard above the babble. _**"Stop it!"**_

"Listen to Kaestra." Sylvia, standing next to Cynthia, nods firmly. Her small voice, often lost in conversation, rises strongly into the night. "We're not doing this for ourselves. We're doing this for our friends back home and for the whole region. We need to be united if we want to stop Janus."

A tense silence ensues. The group stands still, looking from the Meowstic twins to Zai'an and Kaestra.

Kaestra gives Sylvia a tiny smile. "We should split up," he says. He can feel the incredulity in the air, even though no one makes a sound. _I need to play this right._ "One psychic in each group. If Janus is here, we can surround him from either side."

Zai'an's mouth twists downwards. Kaestra doubts he likes the idea, but doesn't want to combat the Leafeon's authority. "Very well," the Umbreon says finally. "Cynthia, you, Vee, and Ryvian come with me. Sylvia and Tovi can go with Kaestra. We'll go this way," he says to Kaestra, jerking his head in a direction. "If any of you are unwilling to come with us, go ahead and head home. Just know that you'll be safer in a group."

"This is stupid," Vee snaps. "We're going to be picked off group by group! Are you insane? I know you-" -he jabs Kaestra in the chest sharply- "aren't quite sane, but you, Zai'an, you always had a rational mind!"

"Calm down," Sylvia murmurs, placing a gentle paw on the Venipede's back. "We're going to be fine."

Kaestra blinks in surprise when the bug doesn't shake her off.

"I've heard that Meowstic have great powers though," Tovi says. "Something about their ears?"

Cynthia shakes her head. "If we did that, we would vaporize most of you. Besides, it's psychic power. Janus wouldn't be affected."

Ryvian nods to Vee. "We wouldn't stand a chance if we were all together, either. The only thing we can rely on is the element of surprise. Zai'an, I'm ready to go when you are."

The group heads off, accompanied by Vee's hissed grumbling.

Kaestra has opened his mouth to speak when a terrible scent hits the back of his mouth. He recoils and crashes into Sylvia, gagging. The taste of rotten flesh rests on his tongue. For a second, Kaestra's eyes are burning too, and a few tears escape him.

"Kae!" Tovi shakes his shoulder violently. "What's wrong?"

Kaestra looks up to tell her he's alright and to stop shaking him, but the words die in his mouth. His vision blurs and refocuses, but Tovi isn't in front of him anymore. Janus stands before him, foggy and intangible. The sun beams from above. Janus's mouth drips blood, his crimson eyes locked with Kaestra's. The rings on his body glow a fierce silver. Before his dark paws lies a bundle of darkened fur.

 _This already happened. I saw this weeks ago._

A paw slaps him, and Kaestra falls to the ground, wheezing heavily. Sylvia stands over him, a dark pink flame burning over her palm. "What happened?" she demands, extending a paw to him. "You overflowed with psychic and dark energy for a second there."

Kaestra tries to reach up to take her paw, but he can't move. With a start, he realizes she isn't trying to help him up- she's psychically keeping him down.

"Sylvia, stop this!" Tovi batters at the Meowstic helplessly. "He's not with Janus!"

A scream rips through the forest. Sylvia curses and winces, putting a paw to her head. "If this is your fault, I will rip you limb from limb and hang you from the nearest tree," she promises darkly, releasing her grip on Kaestra. She takes off in the direction of the scream.

Kaestra woozily gets to his feet.

"Are you okay?" Tovi asks nervously. "I mean, we're all really tired from walking all night. But you…"

"I'm fine," Kaestra says brusquely, pushing past her and ignoring the hurt look on her face. _I'm sorry. But we have more issues to deal with._

"If you're sure," Tovi snaps at his back. She runs past him. Cursing himself, Kaestra follows her.

As he follows her, the forest shifts crazily around him. The trees become ghostly and transparent. Mist flows freely through the broken, scorched tree trunks. The sky glows a harsh gray. Tovi becomes a shadow flitting through the forest. She turns back to him, smiling a grin full of sharpened fangs, her eyes glowing a sickly green.

Kaestra shakes his head, grimacing. When he opens his eyes again, the forest is normal. He nearly bumps into Tovi when she comes to a sudden halt. The other members of the group surround a limp body on the ground, facing a pokemon a few yards away. A log lies on the ground near the body, dirt dripping from its roots.

Sylvia wails and drops to the ground next to her sister. Ryvian bares his sharp teeth at the other pokemon, Zai'an's silver light glinting off his armor. Vee whirls around Cynthia.

Kaestra focuses on Janus.

The Umbreon stands tall, watching the group with narrowed eyes. His mouth is slightly open. A strand of saliva hangs down. While Zai'an's rings are fading back to a golden yellow with the coming dawn, Janus's remain silver.

Kaestra's vision explodes into brilliant reds and oranges. The sky lightens steadily until the sun is high in the sky. All too soon, it begins to drop closer and closer to the ground.

 _What's happening to time?_

He's jolted back to the present by Cynthia crying out to her twin, "No! Don't hurt him!"

Sylvia doesn't heed her warning. She picks up the log on the ground next to Cynthia with a flick of her paw. The pink flame dancing around her grows and grows until it dwarfs the Meowstic. The mystical fire glows in Janus's eyes. The Umbreon closes his mouth and lifts his mouth up in a tiny smile.

Sylvia lifts the log in the air and brings it down on Janus, shouting a battle cry.

"Sylvia, don't!" Cynthia cries from the ground, foam dripping in ugly clumps from her lips. The other Meowstic does not heed her warning. Sylvia screams and psychically rips a tree from the ground, holding it high above Janus's head. Dirt rains from its roots.

Janus's eyes spark and he rears back on his back legs, raking a paw through the air. Shadowy claw marks rip through the air, slicing the tree in three pieces.

Sylvia is thrown to the ground, her eyes rolling up in her head. The tree drops next to her, lifeless once more. Cynthia lets out a muffled sob and buries her head into her paws.

"Stop!" Kaestra leaps forwards to stand squarely in front of Janus. "Don't hurt them!" His paws tremble. He presses them deeper into the dirt to steady them.

"Hurt them?" Janus asks softly, smiling. "Of course Janus wouldn't. They attacked Janus first." He tips his head, still smiling. His eyes wander around the group before coming to a rest on Kaestra. "Are you Kaestra? Janus has heard a lot about you."

 _From where?_

"Yes, I'm Kaestra."

Fire burns in his chest. Kaestra becomes aware of all the life around him- Cynthia's shallow breaths, Ryvian's armor clicking together as he trembles, Tovi's absolute stillness-

"I don't want to fight you." Kaestra takes a step forwards, free from the fear that surrounds him. He focuses solely on Janus. He is completely calm.

 _Am I insane?_

"I don't want to fight you," he repeats. "Maybe you don't, either. Maybe you didn't want to hurt the innocent pokemon of Nuxaon. Maybe you did. But I realize now that I don't care." His heart clenches painfully in his chest as he says it. _I believe it, don't I? What can I trust anymore?_

A cold feeling snakes through his body, chilling every muscle to the bone. _**Are you afraid?**_ The words echo in his head.

A gray circle slowly spreads out from his feet, turning all the leaves on the ground into piles of dust that fly away in the breeze. Energy rushes into Kaestra's limbs. "This is just between us now, Janus. You've made this personal."

He's not sure where his anger is coming from, but he welcomes it with open arms. It strengthens his resolve. Every muscle is tense. Hi's completely focused on Janus. The voice in his head has retreated, but he can feel it in him still, goading him on.

"Kaestra?" Tovi whispers. "What are you talking about? Do you know what you're saying?"

Janus's eyes narrow. "Janus understands now. This forest's guardian has called to Kaestra. Did Kaestra feel her?"

"Don't listen to him, Kaestra! He can't be trusted!" Zai'an steps forward to stand by Kaestra.

"Then who can?" Kaestra can feel his old self coming back up- his timid, scared, weak self. Part of him wants it back, wants to go back to the days when he could be timid and weak and scared. _There's no place for that here. I have to be strong._

 _ **This has gone too far.**_

The other members of his party gave no indication they had heard the voice, but Janus nods. "She's right. Janus is going to ask you all to leave now."

He lifts one paw off the ground and slams it back down. Ripples run through the ground. Janus snarls and a golden glow snakes around the perimeter of the bare ground that Kaestra's gray circle cleared. "We're such a good team, Kaestra, aren't we?"

"What's happening?" Ryvian cries, tripping as another tremor shakes the ground. He rams the golden barrier with all of his powerful strength, but the light repulses him as easily as a solid wall. The Lairon bounces off and crashes to the ground in a terrible cacophony of clashing metal.

The wall begins to glow brighter and brighter, hurting Kaestra's eyes. He looks away, at the ground, dully watching Zai'an group the three downed pokemon together. He glances up briefly at Kaestra and spits on the ground, his mouth twisted into a horrible scowl. "This is what you've done," the Umbreon shouts over the ringing in Kaestra's ears.

Tovi meets Kaestra's eyes. "What are you doing?" she mouths silently. He can see the hurt written out on her face plainly. She shakes her head and turns away from him, reaching out to Vee and Zai'an. Kaestra stares at her back.

 _My only real friend. I just let her go. Why am I like this?_

He can feel a ribbon of regret burst in his chest. _I can't let it show. I have to be strong for… for who? What's wrong with me?_

"You're coming with Janus, Kaestra." Janus stomps the ground again. All of the other pokemon disappear in a brilliant yellow flash.

When the spots clear out of Kaestra's eyes, he realizes that the sun has come up. _How? It's only been a few minutes._

The other pokemon are gone, but Janus and Kaestra are in a different place as well. They're on a white beach that borders a great body of water on their right. Silvery-blue waves lap gently over Kaestra's paws. The clouds speckle the great blue sky, moving with the wind that rolls over the sea. Shells prick his feet as Kaestra shifts his weight, turning his head to see everything. There's not another pokemon in sight save a few birds that soar over the water in the distance. A few small trees sprout from the ground nearby, but other than that… the beach feels so lonely.

The cold water runs over his feet again, as if reminding him that they still exist. He shakes his paws off and the water retreats. The sun hides briefly behind a cloud and Kaestra shivers.

"Kaestra is confused." Janus smiles at him. It almost looks like a real smile, but the Umbreon seems distant. "Janus has gotten Kaestra away from her influence as much as he could."

"What's happening?" Kaestra winces. The sun is flashing off of the sand and it's giving him a headache, or maybe it's Janus's odd speech. He looks at the Umbreon instead, although he has to look up to meet the other pokemon's gaze.

"Janus has gotten you out of Ilex Forest. Kaestra will lead Janus to your guardian. Once Janus finds her, you will be saved and so will the region." Janus smiles again and focuses on Kaestra. "Many pokemon think Janus is evil. Janus merely recognizes the evil in the world and seeks to reset the earth."

"Reset… the world? What do you mean?" Shock jolts through Kaestra's system.

Janus scowls up at the sun. His tail sweeps through the sand restlessly. "Arceus created this world and everything in it. But Arceus is not omnipotent. If we were to destroy the Legendaries that shape this world, we could change it into whatever we wanted." The Umbreon's silver rings radiate heat. Kaestra can feel them like a warm ray of sun. For some reason, the oddly-colored rings terrify him.

"You are particularly important to Janus, Kaestra." Janus's voice has turned genuinely warm, as has the smile on his face. "Your guardian has chosen you for a unique purpose. Since she is now so far from her source of power, it should be quite easy to isolate her from you- with your willingness, of course. From there we can disable Dialga. Without control of time, Arceus will be forced to restart the world."

"I don't understand." Kaestra sinks to his knees. The sand gets in between his toes and stings his paws; Kaestra ignores it with the same amount of detached apathy as watching his group disappear. "Where did my friends go? What's happening? Where are we?"

Even if he was to find Tovi and Zai'an and the rest of his group, they would never welcome him back as a friend. He had seen the betrayal written clearly on their faces. He gazes blankly up at the great blue sky, feeling all too small and insignificant. The clouds float past the sun, casting a gray pall over the beach.

"Why me? I'm just a Leafeon. I'm not special, and I never wanted to be. I just want to live peacefully with friends." A dull throbbing has started behind his eyes.

Janus nods, his mouth pressed into a firm line. "That must be why Celebi chose you. She fears Janus, you know." Amusement flashes in his eyes, like Celebi is silly to be afraid of him. "Kaestra is small, useless, and generally worthless. No one would think of you as under her protection."

"I don't… understand," Kaestra whispers, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. "Can't you just tell me what you mean?"

A deep hatred pulses in his heart; for the beach and the trees and for Janus, until the feeling shudders through his body and screams to be released. A cold wind whips around him, reaching to the sky. The clouds are torn apart and scattered through the heavens. Kaestra breathes in deeply, and the few trees nearby crumble to dust.

Janus stands next to him, impassive, betraying nothing. "Is this all Kaestra can do? To properly harness Celebi's power, Kaestra must call her as well. Being outside her area of power should not weaken her too much." He bites his lip and leans down to make eye contact with Kaestra. "Kaestra, do you have a headache?"

The question is so out of place that taken by surprise; Kaestra lets the fire in his chest burn to embers. "Yes, that's right. How do you know?" _Is_ _he psychic? Can he read my mind?_

"No, Janus is not a psychic," Janus says, further solidifying Kaestra's suspicions. "When psychics are stressed or exhausted, they tend to have headaches. Janus was just wondering if the effect was sympathetic. That would also explain why Kaestra's storm was so weak."

… _weak?_ Kaestra looks around at the beach. The sand has been stirred up and strewn randomly around, creating small dunes and holes. Piles of gray dust mark the graves of the few trees that grew. _Could I do more than this?_ The thought of having more power excites and scares him at the same time. "So I'm just here as your test subject."

"Kaestra must be tired," Janus says, ignoring the question. "Janus has spoken too much about this subject. Kaestra is confused and will feel better after rest."

"But it's morning," Kaestra says. "I'm not tired. I can do just fine." He's eager to question the Umbreon more.

Janus taps his paw against the ground. "You've been awake for twenty-four hours. Sleep." A wry smile touches his face.

When Kaestra blinks, the moon has cast its cold glow against the dark waters. The empty beach is dark and foreboding. Above, the sky is black and void of stars. The sheer emptiness gapes at him. Kaestra can taste frost on his tongue. The air is crisp and sharp. He shivers. He wants to protest against rest, but exhaustion drags at his body like he really has been awake for a full day.

Kaestra collapses onto the silky beach, the starless sky his last sight before he fades away into sleep.


	4. Remnant

Tovi wakes up with a terrible headache, but when she feels along her head she can't find any suspicious bump. Every movement sends a jolt of pain through her body.

She squints in the dim light. She's in a dark cave. The air feels slightly warm and moist, even though the jagged stone pressing against her from three sides is icy cold. It smells of nothing but water. She rises to her feet and feels the ceiling brush against her ears.

In front of her, scattered along the only way out, a few stones glow faintly blue. They're littered along the narrow tunnel. Tovi picks up a particularly bright stone and holds it aloft as a makeshift torch. She can swear she saw something move inside, but when she looks again, it looks like an ordinary rock.

The blue glow casts an eerie pall over the grey stone. She can't hear anything but the beating of her heart and her own soft pawsteps.

Her last memory, although her head is fuzzy, is crystal clear. She remembers the golden wall of light circling all of them except Kaestra and how impenetrable it was. She remembers Ryvian slamming into it again and again, shattering himself against it in a futile attempt to break it. Janus had grouped their fallen psychics, Sylvia and Cynthia, together in the middle while Tovi, Vee, and Janus shielded them with their own bodies.

The memories come back to her faster than she would have liked. Janus had glared down at them with his cold red eyes, looking sad and disappointed with them, like a parent watching their child. Kaestra had stood next to the Umbreon, slumped and defeated and apathetic all at the same time.

 _I was a fool for trusting him,_ Tovi reminds herself, scowling. _He must've been in league with Janus the whole time._ She tries her best to ignore the part of her that argues. I' _m such a fool! Help him! I should've known no one is truly good anymore. A_ nger rushes through her.

After that, the light had grown brighter and brighter, until she had had to close her eyes against the glow. And then, she had been plunged into darkness- literally and figuratively.

Her pawsteps begin to sound louder. The tunnel begins to widen out so that it no longer presses uncomfortably against her fur. She waves her glowing rock in front of her face. She's entered a wider area with multiple tunnels leading off. A pile of scrap metal and rock lies in the mouth of the leftmost tunnel. The air grows warmer, carrying with it the smell of something that shouldn't be burning.

"You."

Tovi whirls around, but the raspy, parched voice came from the pile in the left tunnel. She holds her glowing rock out between them as if trying to use it as a shield. The blue light reflects off of the metal.

" _You_." The thing hisses and spits and rises to its feet. Tovi gasps in horror.

It's a Lairon, or the remains of one. The armor that once covered it is fragmented and cracked. There are a few gouges in its left flank that seem to have carved through its armor like wet sand. A steady drip-drip of dark blood runs down both of its front legs. But worst of all is the thing's right eye. It hangs out of the socket, barely connected to his face, covered in a slick pink slime that drips down his face. Its other blue eye skitters crazily around.

"Ryvian?" Tovi backs up, horrifically aware that there is nowhere to run except for past the creature. "Ryvian, what's wrong? What happened to you?"

Ryvian, if that is truly who this monster is, snarls, foam dripping from his mouth. "They killed me," he growls, the words mangled as they tear themselves from his mouth. "Again and again and again-" Blood bubbles up in his throat. His next words come out only as a wet gurgle.

He takes a tottering step forwards. He stumbles but catches himself with his next step, and spits something out. Tovi thinks it might be teeth.

The Minun has never been very good at using her electricity in her forest home. But down underground, surrounded by tons and tons of cold stone, there's almost no chance of sparking enough to damage the Lairon.

She throws her rock at him instead. It nails him right in the face and rips his dangling eyeball off. It falls to the ground and rolls away, leaving behind a trail of slime and goo. Tovi stares in shocked silence for a second.

Then Ryvian shakes himself and hurls himself recklessly at her.

Tovi curses to herself and runs back into the tunnel, kicking rocks harmlessly back at him. They bounce off of his armor and only serve to anger him further.

Ryvian roars and charges after her, tearing chunks out of the tunnel in places he can't fit through. The ground shivers under them. Loose rocks rattle. The tunnel itself groans, threatening to bury the two of them under miles of stone.

All too soon, Tovi finds herself in the cramped space she woke up in with only seconds to spare. She feels around for anything she could use against him. She comes up with a handful of rock dust.

Ryvian's head appears at the end of the tunnel, snapping furiously for her. A few fragments of his armor, which is rapidly dissolving with the disintegrating of the tunnel system, fly over his head and land near Tovi. The smaller fragments fly past her and shatter against the far wall. A few flick across her skin and draw some blood. A fragment the size of her arm clatters to the ground by her feet.

The walls near Ryvian crack and groan until the Lairon's body appears from a cloud of dust. He gives the Minun a sick smile full of broken teeth and bloody gums. He takes a step forwards, reveling in her helplessness.

His smile drops for a moment when his discovers his back foot is stuck momentarily. No matter, he can shake free easily-

Tovi lunges for the fragment of armor next to her and crosses the distance between her and Ryvian, thrusting the sharp end into a chink in his armor between his body and neck just as his great head swings around to her again. He swallows hard. The fragment bobs with the movement of his throat. He takes a shuddering breath and exhales a red mist. The Lairon slumps to the ground, the light dying out of his single eye.

After his body falls to the ground, there's a moment of complete silence when Tovi gasps for air, her breaths shaky. _Alive one moment, dead the next._ She pulls the knife free amidst a red spray and rubs her paw where the metal cut her. _Tell me I didn't just kill Ryvian. Please, please..._

And then the world roars.

The ceiling above her trembles and begins to collapse. It buckles on its own weight.

Tovi jumps over the corpse and runs as fast as her legs will take her into the place where she found him. She pauses for a moment as her head whips from the left to the right tunnel. A pile of metal and rock still lies in the left one. She refuses to even look at it. As the cave system continues to collapse behind her, she runs into the right tunnel.

The smell of burning grows stronger. The air grows steadily warmer, but the stone walls still feel as cold as ice and have begun to grow a ruddy red color, like a cloudy sunset. At least, Tovi thinks so. The blue light from the glowing rocks has begun to distort her perception of color.

The collapsing of the tunnel seems to have slowed, Tovi can't feel the ground vibrating harshly anymore. Of course. It collapsed where Ryvian weakened the structure. She stops running when her lungs start burning and her legs begin to tremble. The foul air doesn't help. Tovi stumbles and tries to catch herself against the wall.

It isn't there. Tovi falls to the ground, scraping her legs and reopening the cut on her paw. She winces and cries out. Her voice comes back to her louder than thunder, or so it seems. Heat suddenly burns against her skin.

She looks up, and the rest of her breath catches in her throat.

Blue fire crackles in a perfectly rounded pit in the center of the room, a few yards away. Circles full of the blue rocks ring the great cavern, carved into the perfectly smooth walls. The fire gleams in the rocks, each one reflects the light fiercely. The sudden light dazzles her senses. She squints. Despite the fire, the ground is cold.

The knife suddenly against her throat is also cold, and the smile the pokemon holding it gives her is even icier. "She's warm," it says in a scratchy, gravelly voice. "I thought so. We haven't seen a demon for years."

Tovi swallows hard, feeling the knife acutely against her neck. The Geodude had appeared out of nowhere. More melt out of the stone walls. All of them are some form of Geodude or Graveler. Some of them have blue rocks embedded like tiny stars in their rock-skin. A horrible scraping noise follows as they roll across the room. Now that she looks closer, she can see tiny scratch marks where the rough surfaces of their armor grinds into the floor.

"She's living?"

"It's a demon spy from the abyss!"

"Has it seen the sun?"

A Graveler absolutely studded with blue rolls up to her. A hollowed out blue stone is even fastened around his thick wrist like a bracelet. She gulps. He towers over her, glaring down at her with its dark eyes. "Quiet," he commands, his voice like thunder in the cave. "Douse the fire. She lives. Besides, there are no more ghosts living here. They've all moved on."

The pokemon takes its knife away from her neck but doesn't take his eyes off her.

The group of Geodude, silent for a moment, start talking excitedly again. Their rough voices grate on Tovi's nerves. "Shut up!" she cries, holding her paws against her ears and closing her eyes "Shut up shut up shut up!" She chants it over and over, shaking her head as if this horrible day is just a dream that she can wake herself from.

When she opens them again, the fire is gone without a trace of it existing. The Graveler, now the main source of light, shines like a blue sun in front of her. "Have you seen the sky, stranger?"

Tovi licks her lips. "Y-yes. Please, I just want to go ho-" She cuts herself off midsentence, an unpleasant feeling inside her chest. _Where is home?_

His eyes bore into her. "Lead us to the surface, and you will go free." His tone makes it clear that she doesn't have a choice.

Tovi closes her eyes again, aware that she's about to make a bad decision. "Okay. Alright. You'll need to dig through the stone upwards-"

A chorus of angry shouts cut her off. "We know how to get up there, otherworlder!" one particularly loud Geodude snaps, shaking a fist at her. "We are trapped down here by the Earth Lord!"

"Quiet!" the Graveler bellows, slamming an arm against the smooth walls of the cave. It cracks and trembles. A chunk of blue stone embedded in the wall rolls out and falls to the floor by Tovi's feet. "You came down from the surface, on the only path, past all of the guardians. How?"

Guardians. Ryvian must've been one of them. "Why- why are you trapped down here?" she asks tentatively. _If I tell them I woke up and was teleported down here, they'll surely kill me since I can't help them._ Lying has always come easily to her.

The Graveler growls. "The Earth Lord said that our kind were most suited to the dark, deeper than even Zubat will live. He said the surface would only bring us harm. What does this have to do with anything?"

"But I've seen your kind on the surface before," Tovi says. "Most of them were miners and only came out at night, but-"

She's cut off again by the angry outburst of voices that swell through the entire cave system.

"The Earth Lord is a liar! He's been keeping us down here on purpose!"

"He's taken the surface away from us!"

"Shut up! She's lying."

 _This is probably the most exciting thing that's ever happened to them._ Tovi picks up a blue stone and waves it in the air. "Listen! Listeeeeen!" Finally the crowd simmers to a barely controlled murmur. "I killed one of your guardians; the one in the tunnel entrance? He's buried under a thousand tons of stone. I'm sure you can make your way up to the surface."

"If she's telling the truth, then he's gone for good," one of the Geodude says. "How did you do it? The steel beast crushed us under his iron claws."

"Oh, you know, I'm just… just awesome." Tovi's pathetic attempt at humor dies the moment it leaves her mouth. The horror of killing Ryvian still lies with her. "Does it matter? We can get out of here. If you all work together. I really believe it."

The leader stares into the darkness of the tunnel for a long, long time. "We've tried to leave time and again, stranger. We were once a great colony. One couldn't move without tripping over a Geodude." He gestures back at the group of Geodude, no more than three dozen at most. "Why do you think we can go now?"

"We have to try, Rozk," a Geodude murmurs. "For the others. If we fail, then we will join our brothers in the earth."

Another Graveler, unadorned except for a glowing ring, nods. His voice rises as he addresses the group. "Aren't you sick of the darkness? If there's something we can do to break the eternity we've lived in, wouldn't you do it?"

"She killed the steel beast," another says. "If she can do it, so can we!"

Tovi stays silent, aware of how pivotal this moment is. A deep sadness has ingrained itself in her for the rock pokemon. She imagines herself wandering around in the blue light for hundreds of years, lonely in the tiny cave system. _Please, please._

"Let's move, then," Rozk says softly. He presses a metal knife into Tovi's paws. She winces but follows him obediently as the horde of rock pokemon rumble through the tunnel. She feels like it should be a triumphant moment, but the mood is somber. She clutches the knife in her paws. _I'll do this for you, Ryvian. You haven't died in vain!_ It feels weird, feeling so guilty over a pokemon she hardly knew.

They move quickly, rolling through the cave system. They come to the fork in the tunnels, turning into the one where Ryvian had once stood. Tovi breaks into a cold sweat. She runs past the Geodude at the end of the train, hating to be alone in the back with the dark. The blue stones dotting the walls have vanished. Their only light are the Geodude who have the stones embedded into their skin.

And then they run into their first enemy.

"Welcome to the face of death."

The party comes to a complete stop, as still and silent as- well, stone. Tovi's breaths echo in her ears, too loudly.

They stand in a cavern the same size as the one the rock pokemon lived in. It sits in darkness, one that feels unnatural.

A white-furred pokemon steps into the blue light. An aura of darkness glows around her. It eats at the light, its tendrils writhing and lashing at the air. The aura seems to emanate from the black horn protruding from her head. "I see you got rid of the Lairon, but you won't get past me, not unless you have another ceiling to collapse." She grins, showing off her impressively gleaming fangs.

"Now that's a demon if I ever saw one," a Geodude mutters.

"Remember the last guardian," Rozk warns. "He didn't die until the stranger crushed him."

Tovi remembers how battered Ryvian looked, how he had been falling apart. The Geodude and Graveler must've used all their strength on him, only to get slaughtered when he rose from blows that would've felled greater pokemon.

The group shuffles backwards, no one willing to be the first to attack the horned pokemon grinning at them. She makes no move to attack them. She must be waiting for them to make the first move. Tovi's heart beats incredibly fast.

Then three Geodude and a Graveler break out and roll at her from three sides, charging at impressive speeds. The ground thunders under their assault. Tovi puts a paw on a pokemon near her, fighting to keep her balance.

The Absol retreats a few steps and slices her horn at them. A wave of energy expands around the weapon, forming a larger version of the horn made out of pure darkness. She yells a battle cry, completely in her element.

 _Shick_.

The four attackers lay in heaps on the floor, their bodies cut cleanly in two. The light gleams unnaturally off of the blood pooling on the floor. The Absol walks between them, flicking fragments of stone off her fur. She glances up, a challenge in her crimson eyes.

"Fire," whispers Tovi, forcing herself to stand still even though every bone in her body screams to run. Run where? There's nowhere to go. "Rozk, we need fire. How did you summon that blue fire?"

Rozk doesn't meet her eyes. "There must be another way, stranger." He shakes himself. "Too many pokemon have already died. I cannot ask-"

Tovi frowns. "I didn't say anything about-"

"What's another life?" The Absol tips her head, her eyes gleaming with interest. "Show me what you can do, monsters. I'll kill you just like the idiots who chose to attack me!"

A cry of fury erupts from the Graveler with the ring. He rips the stone from his finger and shatters the stone over his head. A thick, gooey liquid drips through the cracks of his skin. Continuing his cry, he rushes at the Absol.

She lowers her head, her horn ready to split him apart as he charges. Tovi can imagine the sick grin she's wearing.

The Graveler dashes himself against her energized blade and loses. Thr Abeol skids backwards from the force of the attack and grimaces. The two halves of the Graveler's body fall to the ground with a dull thud. Tovi winces, but she had expected it to happen.

But his blood flies through the air. Where it touches the Absol, blue fire bursts to life on her skin. She screams and rolls on the ground, batting at herself in a futile attempt to extinguish herself.

Tovi gasps, and a few of the Geodude turn away from the horrible sight. The smell of burning flesh forces its way into Tovi's nose.

The fire burns through the Absol's skin with a ferocious hunger. She falls to the ground, sobbing and whimpering to herself. Tovi has to look at the corpses on the ground to force down her pity.

"The fire only burns on living matter," Rozk murmurs bitterly. "When you came into our cave, the fire you saw was one our brothers killing himself to keep us in light for another few days. A surely painful but noble sacrifice."

 _You're sick._

"Let's keep going," someone says. "I can't keep looking at our brothers' corpses."

They move on, but Tovi stands still, staring at the scene of death in front of her. "Keep going, Tovi," she says to herself, ignoring the feeling of blood on her paws. She drags her feet out of the cave reluctantly.

"Wait… don't leave, please."

Tovi turns slowly, afraid of what she'll see. When she does, she wishes she had kept moving on.

Before her stands the skeleton of the Absol, its bones scorched black. It stands somehow, animated only by the ball of dark energy in its skull. Its voice trembles, and Tovi doesn't want to think about where it comes from. "Please, come back. Don't leave me down here."


End file.
